047: Living Without Regrets by Being an Entrepreneur with Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder

#00:00:37-8# Neil:   Hello it’s Neil Ball here, thank you so much for joining me today on the entrepreneur way. The entrepreneur way is about the entrepreneur’s journey, the vision, the mind-set, the commitment, the sacrifice, failures and successes. I am so excited to bring you our special guest today, Shannon Miller. But before I introduce you to her, I have a quote, Frederick Niche said, ‘we hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers. The entrepreneur way asks the questions so we all get the insight, inspiration and ideas to apply in our businesses. Shannon, welcome to the show, are you ready to share your version of the entrepreneur way with us?

#00:01:26-3# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Absolutely very excited to do so.

#00:01:27-9# Neil:   Thank you for coming on the show Shannon. Shannon Simone Miller is a strategic life and business coach and has been featured in news week magazine as well as several books related to eBay, including how to do everything with eBay and de-gunking eBay. Shannon is a founding partner of Waktrap.com and her company has been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Guardian and Forbes online. She is a member of SAG AFTRA and has appeared on true tv storage hunters, iheart radio, and published a new book on Amazon, Sparks for the spirit – quotes to fuel your inner fire. Shannon has rung church bells in Bethlehem, jumped out of an aeroplane, flown in a hot air balloon, and got spat at by a camel in Jordan, and that is just for starters. Shannon, can you please provide us with some more insight into your business and personal life to allow us to get to know more about what you do, and who you are?

#00:02:32-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:  Absolutely, so I am a serial entrepreneur, in the tech related arena for about 18 years. 25 plus years’ experience in sales, but when I say also serial entrepreneur, I know it is cliché like a lot of people, entrepreneurs feel, from the lemonade stand, to lawn mowing services, I have been creating products, selling things since I was probably ten years old. At 12, my uncle gave me Zig Zigler’s top performance, and I got really enamoured with human potential, motivation, just really being able to create our own destiny with our own desires. So with that being said, I have been in numerous industries, and had many multiple businesses, and now I am focusing on my coaching and motivation business, because I really feel a big calling to give back some of my knowledge to help people basically re-ignite their life, I think if you are an entrepreneur, you have that natural zest, we are really resilient people, we bounce back really well, but I think sometimes the average person needs to be pulled into that, and realise that it just opens up a window of potential for them that they see that ‘well this lifestyle is not just for a select few’ they could dive in as well.

#00:03:57-4# Neil:  Mmm hmm. That’s great, you talked about Zig Zigler there, he obviously had an effect on you, how did that effect you? because did you say you were 14 when you listened to that or 12?

#00:04:09-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   No I was actually 12 so you know, like a lot of us growing up, having some issues with my parents and some challenges in life and my uncle gave me Sig Sigler’s top performance, in fact I still have the book, it is tattered as all heck, it’s falling out of the spine, but it’s, I have this very emotional thing with books, so I just smash it together and keep it with me because it is very symbolic. But it just really encapsulates the idea of how our attitude really is a guiding force in our life, and also as far as business is concerned, like anything is possible. So that’s a big mantra, that I also live by, is anything is possible. So once I ate that up, being exposed to content like that at that age, not only do I recommend that everybody do that with their kids, your nieces your nephews, our schools need it. It’s good for our world, it’s good for humanity. I think it is just a really pivotal moment, it was just this empowering information in this small text, and it was so congruent with me having this voracious appetite to sell and create and connect with people.

#00:05:24-5# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think the thing with being an entrepreneur, that has always excited me, is connecting with other humans, providing a service, using your creativity. And also realising like I said, that anything is possible and walking the talk, and so in the last couple of years, as a youngster, I really had thought about pursuing acting. And had some people help me along the way that never happened, a couple of stops and starts. So in the last two and a half years, I have also been pursuing acting, and in a short period of time, like I am a very proud actor now of the screen actors guild, which is the biggest guild for actors and performers. So, my whole idea with this is, I want to live this life without regrets, being an entrepreneur allows me to do that, also when I walk the talk, if I say that anything is possible, to clients, people I do business with, people I am very involved with, mentorship programmes for youth, so if I say that, and I can say that, and I can say ‘gosh, I don’t want to like live this life and go, what if I had?’ so I am, and then it does not even matter with things in life, how exactly it turns out. As long as you have the gumption to take the leap, so that you do not find yourself at the end of this journey with the ‘what if?’ so that’s been an exciting thing, it’s a humbling process. I think being an entrepreneur sets you up in so many amazing ways, to be able to walk into an environment, and really own your power.

#00:07:03-7# Neil:   Mmmm

#00:07:03-7# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   When you know what it takes to be a self-starter, to put yourself out there, all those things.  Those translate to amazing things in your personal life, whether you are pursuing hobbies, anyway so that’s a little bit.

#00:07:18-1# Neil:   Ok. And how do you make money from what you do now Shannon?

#00:07:25-3# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   So we also have a couple of websites, and I charge clients to basically guide them if they are starting a business, or need personal coaching that a big thing is people are stuck in life. So, it’s a very common theme, whether you have had a successful business, whether you have got to a place, where you are like, ‘the life that I am having, I am not finding fulfilment with it. I feel like I am in this existentialist why am I here, what’s my purpose?’ so people are in transition, they want to be more fulfilled and I will help them hone into, basically pushing the reset button and helping them have the faith and the gumption to embark on a journey that’s actually more suited to them at this stage of their life.

#00:08:13-5# Neil:   Ok. And what do you enjoy most about what you do?

#00:08:17-7# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think the thing that I enjoy the most, with business, and I love business, and I love people, I think that is nothing more than I love than seeing people lit up. I love to see people on fire. I love, there is a little story, I will be real quick with it, because I can go on for days, but something that is a pivotal moment, I was going to the city, I am out in Los Angeles, California, we were going to a festival, taking a cab. And the cab driver, really nice guy, somehow I always love to talk to the cab drivers, they I recommend everybody do it, they always have so many amazing stories. But the gentleman proceeded to tell me, how proud he was, his daughter had just graduated UCLA etc etc and so I started asking a little bit about his back story. And he had actually been one of the first students at university of Southern California, which is USC and their computer science programme, and he was still passionate about it. And it really broke my heart and I said, ‘now that your daughter is in this place and you can why not go back? Do you love that still?’ and you could just see him lit up.

#00:09:26-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   In any case he said, ‘you know I am too old’ he must have been maybe 50 or so. But you could just see when he talked about technology like he was just on fire. And so we got talking the rest of the way, and by the time I exited the cab, he was so delighted and so empowered and thanking me, I think it’s just the thing we all need to kind of give that boosting our fellow man up a little bit, so that was really emotional for me, because I get to a place where they think, it’s too late, I am too old, I don’t have this so when I can key in to what gets people lit up and on fire again, I think nothing delights me more, it’s intoxicating.

#00:10:13-3# Neil:   Yeh and what is it that drives you?

#00:10:18-8# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   A lot of things drive me, I guess that depends on the day, no what drives me? Just absolutely squeezing every delicious bit out of this lifetime that I possibly can, doing as much good as I can along the way and most of all being the master of my own time and destiny. I think that is what, most of us that are entrepreneurs have all had in common. Where we will work way more hours for ourselves, or at least those that are considering pursuing entrepreneurial lifestyle would as opposed to sitting in an office. I have had that in past periods of my life, but where you sit, you check into an office, it’s a little dimmer in the daylight. You check out, the sun is coming down and I thought, to live this life, I can have the sun on my back more than not, so I would rather work much harder and hustling about and being a self-starter than watching all my days wile away.

#00:11:25-4# Neil:   And how do you relax when you are not working in your business?

#00:11:31-4# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Let’s see, so I am really into adventure sports, I like to do a lot of things, most things interest me, so I love cycling, I was a former bicycle racer, up road and track racer, so that’s still listening to the whirr of the spokes in the wind, that is still a meditative thing to me, so still cycling, I love to ball, golf, body board, roller blade, I love to go to the beach, that’s definitely one of my magical places to definitely listen to the waves, re-centre. I also love to cook and make things, I kind of like to do different hobbies, so building things, doing things with my hand, I think that there is something very empowering that kind of fuels the creative spirit that we all have, like doing things with your hands. Cooking, getting outside, flying a kite, all those little pieces come together and they really fuel and re-awaken the creative spirit. So I always tell people, if you are having a little bit of a block in your creativity, don’t sit down and try to hammer away, get outside, go fly a kite, go laugh, go do something that makes your heart sing. And the information magically really does seem to come.

#00:12:45-7# Neil:   Mmm and do you have any entrepreneurial role models?

#00:12:51-4# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Entrepreneur role models I think gosh, there are so many. I think ever since I read Talk Performance at 12 I have probably consumed at least 600 books on the topic. But a couple of people that always come to mind, I really like Richard Branson’s story and Oprah, I think the congruent part of both of those, I always eat up the starting from nothing, bootstrapping, love the little details of the story. And I also love people, that once they get to a certain place, they are philanthropy is something that is really vital, so Richard Branson on the UK side of the pond, and then we have Oprah over here in the States, both very similar, both have impacted so many people in beautiful ways.

#00:13:43-1# Neil:   Yeh they have both done amazingly well haven’t they? And Shannon, what I would like to do now is, can we talk about before you were an entrepreneur? What difficulties did you have to overcome when you started your business?

#00:13:57-5# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think that, I think that what the difficulty is having that total complete faith and I think one of the biggest pivotal moments was walking away from a traditional job and fully committing to being an entrepreneur a 100% of the time, that took some kind of mental finessing, because as much as I am this fearless wild whatever, we still kind of honed back to the what if? So that was a huge leap. Just leaping off the cliff, having total faith, but that took a little bit of processing in my mind.

#00:14:36-3# Neil:   And did you have any doubts that delayed you starting your business?

#00:14:43-5# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think again, I think if I would see if doubt would be, I think it’s just that processing, and I think also you know a lot of people have that thing in their mind where they will say, ‘oh you know afraid of failure.’ I think that many of us can also have a fear of success of like ‘oh my gosh, what if I really get what I am seeking?’ So also processing that in your mind of like ‘ok I am really going to do this.’

#00:15:11-7# Neil:   And what mistakes did you make that slowed your journey?

#00:15:17-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Well we could probably do a whole entire show on what not to do and the mistakes, and the humorous things, but one of the biggest mistakes, because I am a total, little bit OCD type A personality, was not delegating. Trying to be the master of everything, I feel like I am very blessed, I can do coding, build enterprise level websites, I am an expert in sales, so I have a lot of gifts to bring to the table but just because you have a lot of gifts does not mean you need to be the captain of every ship, and I know that a couple of projects that really slowed us down because also doing the bootstrapping thing where you are like, ok I am going to bootstrap, keep it a little bit more frugal financially, so we can get going. But also realising that with time being money, that me trying to do every single thing or as much as I was trying to clobber and put into this big net, and carry away with me, as much of those things that I was thinking I’m doing at saving us money or whatever, I was costing in time. Time and stress and total burn-outs. So delegate, delegate, delegate, I can’t say that enough, and then it’s also empowering, and if you surround yourself with people that you really trust and it could be one person. It’s so empowering to know that ‘wow I can delegate to this person. I don’t have to micro-manage because you don’t get anything good out of micro-managing people.’ No one likes it, and you can actually take a breath and do what your focus is, and do it really well.

#00:16:56-4# Neil:   And what are some of the things you did before you started your business that would be helpful tips to some of the listeners who have not yet taken the first step on the entrepreneur’s way.

#00:17:07-7# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Well one of the things I grew up always starting little businesses, but I had one of my first jobs growing up was in retail, and I worked in the retail environment, for many years for companies like Nordstrom, REI, some high end companies out here called Fred Segal High End Boutiques. And I think that everybody, every kid, every person, should really work in retail at least for a segment of their life. You learn the most invaluable skills, of how to serve a customer, how to communicate, how to present yourself, how to handle a transaction, and it’s very empowering, those are skills working in the retail sector as so valuable, because it gives you this tool belt that is totally transferable, to anything in life.

#00:18:03-6# Neil:   Shannon, can we now talk about the entrepreneurial journey a little bit? Do you think culture is important from the beginning in a business?

#00:18:13-2# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   So are you talking about culture in terms of like what the company overall mantra? culture is?

#00:18:17-3# Neil:   Yeh.

#00:18:17-3# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think, and it also depends because a lot of entrepreneurs you know you are sometimes starting out all by yourself, so you are like, ‘what is my culture? my culture is me.’ So that is where it is sometimes important to connect with networking groups, when you do not have enough people to create a culture. But I think, yeh like having a personal guide-post if you will, where everybody is on the same page, that we have the same value systems in place, we know where we are headed. And as it evolves, your culture is going to evolve, but it does not have to be overly complicated, I think keying into a couple basic points of why we are doing this and what are we doing? And keeping the vibe, being an entrepreneur is, it’s the most amazing experience ever, but it’s not always easy so, keeping the environment positive, taking time out when you are feeling burned out, and making that something that you are recognising as part of your culture to keep empowering people and really listen, if you are bringing on a staff, really take the time to value those staff, not as numbers but as people that are part of this team. So that you really get a beat on your company.

#00:19:37-6# Neil:   I think even solopreneurs really can have culture, because if you think ultimately how you decide to engage with your customers, is your culture of your business. It’s just that it’s only you in it, doing it, so a lot of what you said there can even apply to a solopreneur, can’t it?

#00:19:54-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Absolutely and I think that, that was a great way to put it because it just kind of triggered something. So if you are a solopreneur, I think that when you are talking about culture, I think that it’s also what you are doing outside of your business, that you can bring to your business. So for instance, I am very involved in youth mentorship, I really believe in that, I have done mentorship with the girl scouts of America, which is another awesome entrepreneurial organisation which some people forget. And also teach STEM which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, for youth females. And then I am on the board of a charity, called the Royal Walberg Institute of Ethics, and our big goal is creating cultures of peace and we are working on rolling out a programme in our local school district to help kids talk about the things from, everything from Racism to stuff that is going on at home, any challenging topic, so those things also spill over into my life as an entrepreneur, because those are my culture, how you walk in the world, you know I think that you touched upon is your culture.

#00:21:03-7# Neil:   Knowing what you know now, is there anything that if you had known it when you started out would have helped you to shortcut the learning curve?

#00:21:15-8# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think getting back to the delegation, I think that that was probably my biggest Achilles heel, is realising we can be so much more effective, and get done so much faster, when we can also rely on the expertise of other people, and trust in that.

#00:21:36-3# Neil:   And how much does gut feelings influence your decisions in your business?

#00:21:40-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think gut and intuition, I think the older I have gotton, I have really learned to trust it, because I don’t know how many of us have had an experience where you say ‘don’t do this? and it’s in your brain’ but then your intellect second guesses it. And then you do it anyway, and then it turns out the wrong way and you had the information all the while, so I think that you know, we are animals, but we are also energy and we are beacons of all this information, so in order to survive in this world, we get cued in on those signals, and I think that once we can practise to trust your gut or your intuition, it’s very interesting the things that, so I think that it is very vital, and I am getting better, it’s not always easy to do but getting better and to just trust that more.

#00:22:30-7# Neil:   Yeh and what advice would you give to other business owners that may be struggling in business right now?

#00:22:39-7# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think a key thing is to get back to your core competencies, I think that in the race to be everything and bigger and bigger, I think that sometimes our hands are in too many pots. So I think, if you have to cut things away, whether that is customers, you know and that is one of the most terrifying things, as an entrepreneur, people don’t like to face, the idea that sometimes you need to fire your customers. And that sounds crazy, oh my gosh, you know they are bringing in money, but if somebody is costing you more in time than they are bringing, or more in stress, or more in stress of your sales people, sometimes you have to snip it off. So being able to really look at your picture and hone in, if you have got your hand in too many pots, you are not going to do that too well. So what are your one or two things that you do? Super awesome and focus back on that. Kind of get back to where you started, why you started, and if you do have employees, especially at the sales and service sector, really start with your employees. How happy are they? Because if you have miserable employees, you can bet they are not going to be representing your business well to their customers and timing again, that really impacts your bottom line.

#00:23:57-3# Neil:   Mmm some good advice there. Shannon, life is made of constant change, whether we like it or not. In fact, some people would say the only constant is change, how do you try to keep up with change in your business?

#00:24:12-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think the key is keeping a beat on what’s going on in the real world, I think as entrepreneurs and especially if you are a one-man show or a big part of your life is being a one-man show. We can kind of be isolated, we can be isolated, we are working on our own etc, etc, so I think getting out going to conferences, networking, getting outside I don’t care where you are in the world, whether it’s taking a walk or a hike, connecting with like-minded people, I think that is super-valuable because you are staying connected to what’s going on in the real world. Reading books, researching stuff online, but not being an over consumer, I think that can be a little bit of a tricky thing, some people can think ‘oh they gotta stay up-to-date on every single thing so they are cramming so much information in, down their throat and in their head that their head is going to blow off. It’s responsible kind of consumption of information if you will, and staying connected to the real world.

#00:25:18-7# Neil:   You mentioned reading and you also mentioned earlier that you had read 600 books, so I am going to be fascinated by your answer to this. What’s your favourite book on entrepreneurialism, business, personal development, leadership or motivation? and can you tell us why you have chosen it?

#00:25:35-9# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   So I have quite, it’s very hard, it’s kind of like music, I love music, so saying, ‘what my favourite song?’  It’s kind of an impossible question for me to answer.

#00:25:41-8# Neil:   Ok.

#00:25:44-1# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   But I will give you a couple of books, and then I will key into one that I think it’s a real joy to read. So I really love spirituality, motivation, of course ‘awaken the giant within’ Tony Robbins is great, Brian Tracey, ‘psychology of achievement’ I have read and had that on books on tape more than one time, you can never get enough benefit out of that. I think ‘conversations with god’ is an amazing book, if you are kind of feeling at a spiritual crossroads, it really flows into every part of life. Dan Million, Dan Milmens ‘way of the peaceful warrior’ talks about, kind of letting go and being able to be brave enough to be in your present. But one that I absolutely loved, and it’s totally and unlikely topic or title, and it’s not even in the business realm. It’s from Paula Dean and Paula Dean is, it’s a near times best-seller, and she has a cooking empire in the United States and the book is called, ‘it ain’t all about the cooking.’ and it’s funny because it is not a business book per se, but it is everything that I love about the entrepreneurial journey. It talks about our highs and lows and life, it talks about how she started out with cooking, as a means to kind of get through a challenging part of life. And how she started with this little company in her kitchen and how it’s bloomed to where she is a multi multi millionaire TV celebrity, cooking guru with a near times best-seller.

#00:27:27-1# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   It touches on every part of the human experience, a little bit of fear. The triumph and struggle, and the beauty and excitement that comes from the seed of an idea turning into something awesome. So, it’s by Paula Dean and it’s a memoir, it ain’t all about the cooking, I highly recommend it.

#00:27:44-6# Neil:   Ok, everyone when you have a busy life, listening to audio books is a great way to expand your knowledge in the time when you may be doing other things, such as driving or when you are at the gym. We have a special offer for you of a free audio book of your choosing, to choose your free audio book, go to www.freeaudiobookoffer.com. As long as you have not already signed up then you will qualify. Shannon, we are now at the part of the show where you speculate about the future a little bit, so what one thing would you do with your business if you knew that you could not fail?

#00:28:21-9# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   So I think that would be to have a television show that focuses on human motivation and development, I think that is something that I am working toward having the inner section if you will of my love for entrepreneurialism, motivation, human inspiration, but being able to deliver the message, on a more global level.

#00:28:44-9# Neil:   Thank you for that, and what skill if you were excellent at it would help you the most to double your business?

#00:28:56-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   That’s a very good question. You kind of stumped me there, I think I would have to think about that, I think also being hard on myself, I think a lot of entrepreneurs, we can have that in common. Where the perfectionist syndrome, I think working on dialling that back a bit.

# #00:29:18-9# Neil:   Ok. And so you think that would allow you to sort of set your business free doing that do you think, or?

#00:29:26-5# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Yeh I think that there is a tendency for some of us to not release something in the world until we think it’s absolutely perfect, but realising that it is releasing it at stages, when we are getting feedback and all that valuable thing, so I am working at being better at that. Like letting the bird fly, if you will.

#00:29:47-0# Neil:  I heard somebody say, it’s better to be first than it is to be perfect.  #00:29:51-8#

#00:29:51-8# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think you are right, and I will take that to heart.

#00:29:56-2# Neil:   Ha ha ha in five years from now, if a well-known business publication was publishing an article on your business, after talking to your customers and suppliers, what would you like it to say?

#00:30:10-9# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I would like it to say, here is somebody that is amazingly enthusiastic, that is a master at helping you re-ignite your life.

#00:30:21-2# Neil:   Thank you, we are now at the part of the show where you share three golden nuggets with us now Shannon, so what is your favourite quote, and how have you applied it?

#00:30:32-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   So it’s not exactly a quote and I was talking to somebody the other day on twitter about this, but I was a girl scout growing up and there was something, it was not something part of the typical girl scout moto, or slogo, but there was something that the leader had said to us and it was ‘leave every place a little bit better than how you found it.’ And that has sat with me forever, so whether it was going camping and you go to a beach or you go to a park and instead of being that person that sees that piece of trash, you know you can pick it up, pick it up. You see that person on the side of the road that needs help, instead of just driving by, stop and help, ask somebody how they are doing, really take the time to listen. If you have all these skills, the funny thing is we are so hard on ourselves and we forget how much knowledge and how many magical things we have within ourselves that would be jewels to someone else. So knowing that the more we share that, the better we are, so that has been like a mantra, I have lived with life. Whatever I do to try to leave it a little bit better, than how I found it.

#00:31:39-5# Neil:   I think that reminds me of something Jim Rohn said, I think he used to talk about leaving a prophet, I think that’s a similar type of concept isn’t it?

#00:31:47-2# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Absolutely and it’s super vital, because I think there is a fear, I know that one of the fears I had you know being an entrepreneur, because I have had some bad experiences of people, stealing from us, stealing ideas, I am sure we all have where you battle that, it’s heart-breaking, but I think you cannot let that fear of who could try to steal your idea, who is going to be dishonest, get in the way with all the good you have to share, because the more we share our gifts and knowledge and skills, it really does help our business flourish. It helps us get customers; it helps people trust us, that authenticity is valuable, so that is something to remember.

#00:32:28-8# Neil:   I think that’s interesting you say that because if you think about what the internet represents, the internet represents the ability for everybody to share with everybody, and if you look at innovation in the last few years, it seems to have grown exponentially. Probably coincident with the internet, so I think there is a lot in what you say there.

#00:32:46-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I mean it’s democratised, one of the very first businesses we started, we were one of the first sellers on eBay that was actually H10 Mail and I had been in the garment industry and manufacturing and import, export. My business partner had been in copywriting, and we were like, we did not know what we were doing but we thought we could do this, and never before, so it was just this exciting idea of ‘we can sell goods, not only can we test an idea, but we can sell goods and products to Greece from the United States or import stuff from Germany, Italy, the UK. Just democratising people’s ability to step into this world, is absolutely the coolest thing ever.

#00:33:36-4# Neil:   And do you have any favourite online resources that you can share with us?

#00:33:43-6# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think that if you are in the marketing arena, I think digital marketer, is a really cool website. I think that gosh there’s so many, I think that success online if you want some motivational articles, of course you can go to my website, ShannonMiller.MA I always post tips and articles to help you re-ignite your life. I think gosh there are so many, I do like to read the wall street journal, just to get a beat on the overall culture of the business market, and then there are niche websites, but yeh digital marketers, a pretty good one. Gosh, yeh I think that’s good.

#00:34:28-0# Neil:  Alright, thank you for that, and what is your best advice to other entrepreneurs?

#00:34:35-9# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think my best advice would be, be careful who you share your dreams with, and what I mean by that is You are going to have a million people that are going to say, ‘how are you going to do it? It’s impossible, how are you going to make money? Are you crazy? So without being a worried nervous person, when I say, be careful who you share your dreams with, even if you only have one person, that believes in you, that’s going to cheer you on, that’s going to lift you up, one person is better than none. So that is a great place to start, but we all know whether it’s friends, family in life, there are people as much as we love them, that maybe are not as happy in their life, maybe they are not as brave, they might not take a leap, whatever the case is, we know that at the time who those people are, that are going to tell us we are crazy. So I would say, don’t tell those people, quite yet, maybe give yourself the ability to get your bearings a little bit first so that you feel like you can withstand that, if you feel like, because at some point, everybody is going to know what you are doing, but I think in the initial phase, you really have to surround yourself by like-minded people, so if you do not have those people in your life, you can go and seek them by going to a networking group. Go to one of your local community organisations, city commerce. Actually we have things called Chamber of Commerce in the UK, I am sure they have similar, where like-minded business people, entrepreneurs get together, even if it’s once a month, even if it’s over the internet, even if it’s going to Facebook and joining a group where you are talking to entrepreneurs, you are sharing that struggle, because I think that’s really vital.

#00:36:15-0# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   A lot of people can get swept out to sea right away, because they have too many people that tell them ‘it’s never going to work’ and ‘they are crazy’ and when you think about that, you got to think about FedEx. The gentleman that started it, he had actually proposed that in a paper, in his college class, and his teacher told him he was crazy, so he been impacted by that, we would never have Federal Express. So those are something to really be mindful of.

#00:36:44-6# Neil:   Everyone, if you did not manage to get a note of Shannon’s favourite resource or her favourite books, you can find the links on Shannon’s show notes page, just go to theentrepreneurway.com. and search for Shannon or Shannon Miller in the search box. Shannon, is there anything else that you would like to add about your business?

#0 #00:37:04-4# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   I think that anybody if you are feeling if you are in a place of transition, if you are stepping into business or you just feel like you are stuck and you need to re-ignite your life, you can go to my website, I have a free 30 minute consultation, there’s also free articles and tips, and you can also contact me, I do actually personally answer my emails, and I am always here if I have a resource for somebody I am really big on helping people, I will always pass that along, so and yeh I wish everybody the best and take the leap, it might be scary as heck, but it is the best jump you will ever take in your life.

#00:37:42-7# Neil:   Yeh Shannon, thanks for sharing your enthusiasm and your motivation and just your knowledge, it’s been great having you on the show, so thank you very much.

#00:37:52-2# Shannon Miller Wacktrap Co-Founder:   Thank you Neil, I am so excited for the entrepreneur way, it is super awesome, thank you for having me.

#00:37:56-7# Neil:  You are welcome Shannon, thank you.